This state is called blissful ignorance.<\/p>\n And it is only when we try to do something that we become aware of what we cannot do; which can lead to temper tantrums!<\/p>\n As we ask, listen, reflect, learn, and practice our ability improves and we enter the zone of Know How.\u00a0 We become able to demonstrate what we can do, and explain how we are doing it.<\/p>\n The Zone of Known Known.<\/p>\n The final phase comes when our ability becomes so habitual that we forget how we achieve our skill – it has become so intuitive and second nature.<\/p>\n Some years later I was introduced to the Nerve Curve<\/em>\u00a0which is the emotional roller-coaster ride that accompanies change.\u00a0 Any form of change.<\/p>\n The multi-step model was described in the context of bereavement by psychiatrist Elisabeth K\u00fcbler-Ross<\/a>\u00a0in her 1969 book “On Death & Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and their Families.<\/em>“<\/p>\n More recently this grief reaction has been extended and applied by authors such as William Bridges and John Fisher in the less emotionally traumatic contexts called transitions<\/em>.<\/p>\n The characteristic sequence of emotions are triggered by external events are:<\/p>\n The important messages in both of these models is that (a) this is a normal and expected process and (b) we can get stuck<\/strong> along the path of transition.\u00a0 We can disengage at several points, signalling to others that we have come off the track.\u00a0 When we do that we exhibit behaviours such as denial, disillusionment and hostility.<\/p>\n More recently I was introduced to the work of the late Chris Argyris and specifically the concept of “defensive reasoning<\/a>“.<\/p>\n The essence of the concept:\u00a0 As we start to become aware of a gap between our intentions and our impact, then we feel threatened and our natural emotional reaction is defensive.\u00a0 This is the essence of the behaviour called “resistance to change”, and it is interesting to note that “smart” people are particularly adept at it.<\/p>\n These three concepts are clearly related in some way.\u00a0 \u00a0But how?<\/p>\n As a systems engineer I am used to cyclical processes and the concepts of wavelength, amplitude, phase and offset, and I found myself looking at the Awareness-Ability cycle and asking:<\/p>\n “How could that cycle generate the characteristic shape of the transition curve?”<\/em><\/p>\n Then the Argyris idea of the gap between intent and impact popped up and triggered another question:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.improvementscience.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Awareness_Ability_Cycle-300x225.png\")
<\/a>The idea is that when we learn, we all start from a position of being unaware of our inability.\u00a0 We don’t know what we don’t know.<\/p>\n
\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.improvementscience.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/John_Fisher_Transition_Curve.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.improvementscience.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Awareness_Ability_Engagement-1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n